Nanoparticles may be
the cure for cancer

Firoz Al Mamun

16th January, 2019 10:58:24

Use of reduced silver particles or silver nano particles can cure cancer and other serious conditions induced by multi-drug resistance in human body, according to a two-year research carried out in the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST), Malaysia.

During the research, the scientists also invented the silver nanoparticles which are effective against cancerous infections where traditional drugs are ineffective.

Two Bangladeshi scientists were included in the five-member panel that carried out the research on the treatment of the patients suffering from diseases caused by pathogenic microbes and multi-drug resistance.

The study culminated into the finding that silver molecules are effective against these kinds of ailments.

Dr Tahmina Monowar, Bangladeshi origin senior lecturer of microbiology at AIMST University, Dr Md Sayedur Rahman, regional director of Bangladesh Betar at Gopalganj, Dr Subhash J Bhore, senior associate professor of department of biotechnology at Faculty Of Applied Sciences at AIMST University, Dr Gunasunderi Raju, school of distance education, University Sains Malaysia, Kathiresan V Sathasivam, senior associate professor of Biotechnology at AIMST University conducted the research. The research was held at Biotechnology Department at AIMST during a period from 2016 to 2018.

Silver nano particles are nanoparticles of silver of between 1 nm and 100 nm in size. It plays an important role in nano-science and nanotechnology, particularly in nano-medicine. It can be used in various fields including medical, food, health care, consumer, and industrial purposes. They have been used for several applications like as antibacterial agents, in industrial, household, and healthcare-related products, in consumer products, medical device coatings, optical sensors, and cosmetics, in the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry, in diagnostics, orthopedics, drug delivery, as anticancer agents, and have ultimately enhanced the tumor-killing effects of anticancer drugs.

Talking to the daily sun, Dr Md Sayedur Rahman said “As a Bangladeshi scientist, I feel proud to be a member of the research group. Use of silver nano particles have been proved to be effective against cancer and other serious diseases and drug resistance.”

About commercial launching of the drug, he said further study is needed for commercial optimization. If there is any side effect of the silver particles on human body, it should be minimized through further research, he added.

The most common methods for nano particle synthesis are the nucleation of particles within a solution. This nucleation occurs when a silver ion complex, usually silver nitrate is reduced to colloidal silver in the presence of a reducing agent. When the concentration increases enough, dissolved metallic silver ions bind together to form a stable surface.

A pathogen, a micro-organism that has the potential to cause disease and an infection, is the invasion and multiplication of pathogenic microbes in the human body. Disease is occurred when the infection causes damage to the person’s vital health functions.

There is strong evidence that microbes may contribute to many non–infectious chronic diseases such as some forms of cancer and coronary heart disease. Different diseases are caused by different types of micro-organisms. Microbes that cause disease are called pathogens.

A few harmful microbes, for example less than 1 percent of bacteria, can invade our body and make us ill and these cause infectious diseases such as flu and measles.

Antibiotic resistance is a great threat to global health. Although it occurs naturally, irrational and indiscriminate uses of antibiotics are accelerating the process resulting in a grave dilemma in treating a number of infections due to fact that the antibiotics are conventionally used to treat them are becoming less effective.

Since the 1950s, both the legitimate and irrational uses of antibiotics have led to increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Until recently, a series of epidemics have been noted in the antibiotic era caused by several resistant organisms.

Drug-resistant pathogens are now common in hospitals, clinics, communities and the environment.

Staphylococcus aureus (Staph aureus or “Staph”) is a bacterium that is carried on the skin or nasal lining of up to 30 percent of healthy individuals. In this setting, the bacteria usually cause no symptoms.

However, when the skin is damaged, even with a minor injury such as a scratch or a small cut from shaving, Staph can cause a wide range of problems.

Besides, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body.

It is tougher to treat than most strains of staphylococcus aureus or staph because its resistant to some commonly used antibiotics.

The symptoms of MRSA depend on where a person infected. Most often, it causes mild infections on the skin, like sores or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract.

Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”) is a common type of bacteria or germ that is often found on the skin and in the nose of healthy people. It can also grow in wounds or other sites in the body, sometimes causing an infection.

VISA or VRSA infections can cause a range of symptoms including skin infections, abscesses, pneumonia, and infection of the heart valves, bones, or blood.

Many people carry staph bacteria on their skin or in their bodies without any symptoms. This is called being “colonized”. A person might be colonized for a long time before getting sick or might never get sick.

Staph bacteria (including VISA/VRSA) are most often spread by direct person-to-person contact, usually on hands. Staph can also spread by contact with contaminated items (e.g., bandages, medical equipment) or environmental surfaces.

The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) can develop resistance to the antimicrobial drugs used to cure the disease. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is TB that does not respond to most powerful drugs.

Sources said XDR-TB is extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) which is resistant to at least four of the core anti-TB drugs. XDR-TB involves resistance to the two most powerful anti-TB drugs.

Some kinds of E coli can cause diarrhea, while others cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and other illnesses.

Drug-resistant pathogens are now common in hospitals and other health care settings as well as in communities and the environment.

Dr Shanawaz, a physician of a private hospital in the capital, termed the research report positive, saying that further study is needed to determine its side effect on human body.

“The global health experts will apply the silver particles on animals and then human body. If the silver participles are proved to be safe for human health, it will be reported in the international journals. Then the drug made of silver molecules may be commercially produced,” he added.